Cars that let you save on insurance
Do you think much about car insurance rates before you buy that car you’ve been dreaming of for years? If not, you should be, because the car you ride makes a big importance in what you will pay for insuring it. The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) accumulates and analyzes information regarding the insurance costs of every car make and model present on the road according to theft rates, repair costs, number of claims filed, safety and damage to infrastructure. the cost to insurance companies from theft, collision, and injury claims as they relate to cars.
For example, two door cars are much likely to be stolen than their four door peers. A convertible Chevrolet Corvette has a theft rate five times higher than that of a Buick LeSabre. And Toyota Celica is 67% more likely to be stolen than her sister Toyota Camry.
Another primary factor determining the cost of insuring your car is safety of those who are inside when the car crashes. Some cars will leave the passengers intact, while others have frightening lethal rates even with non-devastating collisions. So if you want to keep your life and pay lower insurance premiums, you should definitely check out the crash test ratings and see if your dream car fits into the “safe” category.
The same should be done with car theft rates. Every year these lists change, because newer and more exclusive cars tend to become the target of car thieves more often than older models. However, some car models keep on appearing in top theft lists, contributing to their “popularity” and high insurance rates respectively. These cars are:
- Toyota Camry
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Pickups
- Honda Accord
- Ford F-150
- Acura Integra
- Nissan Sentra
Another factor that may raise your insurance rates is how much a single theft claim costs according to the car stolen. This variable is determined by how often such claims are filed and how much the car costs. Currently the most expensive theft claims are filed on the following cars:
- Cadillac Escalade
- Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
- Lincoln Navigator
Respectively the lowest theft claims come with the following vehicles:
- Buick LeSabre
- Volvo V70 Station Wagon
- Mercury Grand Marquis 4-four
In what concerns injury claims and passenger safety, the rule of thumb here is the bigger the car, the safer it is. Vehicles with a smaller mass tend to get damage more in accidents, and the same applies to faster sports cars. Thus the rating of the most expensive vehicles in terms of injury claims:
- Suzuki Esteem 4-door
- Kia Rio 4-door
- Mitsubishi Mirage 2-door
- Kia Spectra 4-doors
While the cars with cheap car insurance due to low injury claims are:
- GMC Sierra 2500
- GMC Yukon XL 1500 4-wheel
- Chevrolet Silverado
- Chevrolet Tahoe 2-wheel
So it is better to investigate your cheap car insurance options before actually buying the car you were dreaming about. Because in reality it may turn into a real nightmare, with costly insurance premiums, high repair costs and the risk of being stolen the other day you actually buy it.
What is liability in auto insurance for?
When speaking about liability, many seem to forget the initial meaning of the word, which would let them understand better anything that has to do with “liability” in this country. “Liability” means that “there’s a possibility” if used in broader terms. In legal glossary, liability tends to be associated with words “owing” and “responsibility” meaning that a person or entity is forced to hold responsibility for certain actions with respect to the legal framework of the state or federal level. The same meaning spreads to the field of insurance too.
In most cases, such a responsibility has a financial form when a condition or a situation putting the law at work takes place. This is because laws are designed to regulate the lives of all citizens, harmonizing all relations between them and assuring that any injustice is addressed properly.
In most US states and countries over the world, drivers are legally required to carry insurance policies when operating most types of vehicles, which of course includes cars as well. And as there are many conditions for the driver to be responsible for certain damage or injury on the road, all insurance policies include a “liability” section, which is triggered in situations of being at fault during a traffic accident.
When a traffic accident takes place, someone is the victim and someone is at fault. Who’s who is determined by the police basing upon the facts provided by both parties, witnesses and location observations. All parties involved in the accident should have auto insurance in order to drive a car legally. And the one who is determined to be at fault is automatically liable for the damages caused by his or her actions on the road. Meaning that the person wields financial responsibility for the consequences of the traffic accident and the insurance policy will help the person pay for the damages or injuries done.
Most people driving cars don’t have the money to be fully liable for any accident they are involved in, because repairing a car or paying medical bills can cost you a fortune. That’s why people need insurance policies when driving automobiles and no matter whether you have cheap auto insurance or a very costly coverage plan, your policy still contains the liability portion to different extents.
The cost of your insurance policy does not determine the amount of liability it carries directly, but usually the more costly is the policy the larger is the amount of liability coverage. Still, you can have decent liability coverage even with cheap auto insurance plans if you look deeper into your options and choose the right offer from the right provider.
Just make sure to ask your agent or broker about your liability limits before buying the actual policy. The state you live in can strongly influence the minimum amount of coverage to be carried, because these numbers vary across states. And you don’t want to have liability coverage below the required minimum, because it will cause much trouble when the policy finds it out.
Finding affordable insurance if you are a high risk driver
Remember, the general rule always has exceptions. So when everyone tells you insurance companies load up the premiums of the inexperienced drivers and the drivers who have a bad safety record, that is true as a general rule. But this does not mean it’s impossible to find reasonably cheap insurance. All it means is you have to work harder to get results. So the first rule is, “Never give up hope!” There are always ways in which you can save on the premium and find reasonably good coverage. Who are you? You may:
- be a new driver;
- have been involved in multiple traffic accidents;
- have been convicted of driving while under the influence or other serious offenses; or
- have had you license suspended and/or your previous insurance cancelled.
The second rule is always to tackle the problem honestly. It is pointless to lie about your record. Even if the lie goes undetected when you buy the policy, every company makes thorough checks once a claim is made. If your dishonesty turns up, the company will cancel the policy and you will be left with no indemnity against the claim. Be open about your high-risk status and get two sets of quotes using the online search engines. You should aim to compare the prices on general policies with the premiums charged by the companies offering special policies for drivers with poor records. The bad news is the majority of general insurers will refuse to quote or quote high premiums. These are the companies only writing policies for people aged between 25 and 70 who have never had an accident in their lives. The quotes you get are still useful because you find out which is the lowest of the high quotes. The good news is there are a small number of companies offering a specialised service to high risk drivers. Ask for high risk auto insurance or nonstandard auto insurance and get their quotes.
The third rule is to improve your driving ability and record. If you are a new driver or have recently had a serious accident, go through one of the advanced driving courses approved by local insurance companies. Successful completion usually entitles you to a discount. You then have to put all you best driving skills into practice and drive without collecting tickets and getting into accidents. The longer your license stays clean, the lower your premium will be. Sadly, it takes years to remove the negative marks from your record but, once you have proved you are a good driver, you will be rewarded.
The final rule to find every possible discount to bring the premium down. Drive a low-powered vehicle only at low-risk times of the day and avoid driving long distances. Fit safety features to your vehicle and store it off the road at night. You may not end up with really cheap auto insurance, but it should be reasonably affordable. In any event, cheap auto insurance is often bad value for money. It’s always better to find good coverage at a price you can afford.
Avoid accidents during the winter
Holy cow, Batman, it’s winter again. Sadly, Robin probably never said this to Adam West’s Batman and the lyrics from the song by The Band are not quite right. Which brings me to a Scottish group appropriately called Snow Patrol and their lyrics to Holy Cow include the fabulous line, “The telegraph pole knows where you live.” Yes, friends, it’s that time of the year again. Let’s start with a fact you do not want to hear. Claims arising from traffic accidents in snow are 40% higher than from the accidents when the road conditions are dry and the visibility is good. As you sit behind the wheel of the vehicle with that sense of absolute powerlessness, remember Holy Cow. You can turn the steering wheel this way and that. You can pump the brakes for all you are worth. But if that telegraph pole wants to get you, it will.
So what can you do? Let’s start with pre-snow planning. One of the worst things to happen is walking to your vehicle at night and finding it will not start. Always have your engine retuned to improve cold weather starting. Otherwise you can find yourself stranded waiting for help to arrive. This brings up several pointers. Is your cell phone always charged? You need to be able to make calls for help. Have you programmed in the numbers of your garage and a towing company? Or have you joined a club like the AAA. There are some good emergency roadside assistance packages out there. Look for the best value given the number of times you are forced to drive in poor weather conditions. Is there an emergency kit in your vehicle. You need a blanket to keep you warm and hazard flares to warn other drivers. Finally, check the windshield wipers to keep maximum visibility in sleet and snow and either fit snow tires or have good all-season tires with chains to clip on to the wheels if conditions worsen unexpectedly.
Now the driving itself. The most important rule is not to drive unless it is absolutely necessary. If you cannot avoid going out in icy conditions with snow forecast or falling, always drive slowly, keeping the maximum possible distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you. Expect everyone else to be out of control and about to crash into you – given the accident statistics, this is not an unrealistic expectation. So be prepared to stop or get out of the way of other drivers. Apply these rules and you should arrive at your destination in one piece. The aim should be to avoid making any claim on your car insurance policy and facing the usual increase in the premium rate – insurance companies like to stay in profit and react when you claim. The ability to drive safely in winter also grows with experience. As a new driver or someone moving north from the eternal sunshine of the south, the car insurance quotes are likely to reflect this lack of experience. Be prepared for the worst. The premiums will start and stay higher until you have survived one or two winters. That said, the basic technique is to drive defensively, always assuming the worst of the road conditions and other drivers. Let’s hope you can learn how to survive without too many crashes on the way.
How to make your policy cheaper?
Are you satisfied with the quality of coverage you get for the money you pay? Of course, most of us think that cheap means low-quality and tend to overpay just believing that this will give them better insurance or services. In fact, it is not so. Paying too much money for insurance often leads only to over-spending money and doesn’t increase the quality of coverage you get. So if money is vital to you and you want to lower your insurance costs, here are some simple tips how to do it:
Lower theft risk: The majority of new cars carry anti-theft features. And the more such features your car has the lower will be your insurance premiums. Theft is one of the major risks for insurance companies, especially in urban areas, and if you do something to prevent such risks your policy will be much cheaper.
Multiple car discounts: Sometimes insuring two cars can cost you the same amount of money as insuring a single vehicle. People often get pleasantly surprised with multiple car discounts they can get from their insurance companies when asking for one. It’s much cheaper to have a single policy covering all your cars rather than separate policies for each individually. Even if you think of selling your second car, it is better to get it insured too because it will allow you to opt for the multiple car discount. But when you actually sell the car and report it to your insurer it is quite likely that your rates will go up.
Get one-year policies: Not only you save yourself from the hassle of looking for a new policy every six months instead of a year, but you also get fixed rates for a longer period of time. Which is quite nice if you find a cheap policy initially.
Storage discounts: In case you will be storing your car for a certain period of time, it would be smart to inform your insurance company about it. Because during that time you aren’t likely to be needing any collision or liability coverage, making your car insurance much cheaper during the storage period.
Check your exact mileage: When the insurance agent asks you how much mile you drive within a certain period of time, it is better to be as precise as possible. Your mileage strongly affects your rates, so if you drive only a few miles to work and back it is good to know how much “a few” really is.
Opt for group discounts: In case you are a member of a credit union, college association, driver’s club or any other organization, you can opt for a group discount on your car insurance in case the organization is affiliated to your insurance company.
EFT payments are cheaper: You might notice that every time you pay for car insurance by mail, you are charged more than by any other means. Start using your banking account for settling payments: it’s not only more convenient but actually cheaper.
Is your car insurance company rated?
There are certain institutions in the country that can rate companies. Some of them deal with insurance companies only as there are too many to take into consideration. But we have some questions that we want to discuss now. How do coverage, rates and services differ and what makes this or that company better than the other one? How can one and the same service cost differently in different companies? If you have not dealt with an insurance company before it is tough to choose one and not to have doubts about it later on. What is important here is to know for sure your insurance company will be stable and will help you out when the time comes. You should know the financial strength ratings of your insurance company so you are not afraid of any risks that may arise. There are many companies that fail with time. They are unable to maintain the reputation due to the lack of financial strength and many other important factors that are pretty significant.
If you want to make a good decision about your insurance company you should ask around, analyze and come to a conclusion with the list of top five insurance companies to deal with. You should also trust your senses. Sometimes people have bad feelings about companies but they don’t care enough to trust them. Have a conversation with your family, relatives and friends about the insurance companies they use. It could be useful for you to take advice from those who you can rely on – people that will only advice you something descent. It is very important to know how easily and how quickly claims are processed. It would be perfect if the company that you plan to get insured with had a 24/7 claim service. Let us tell you the main reason for insurance. Take for example your car. Your insurance should protect you from any injury or property damage that may occur during an accident. It has to protect your assets and help you with the liability. In order to choose a good company you must shop around and ask for the costumer satisfaction ratings. They are extremely important. They can tell lots about the way company maintains itself on the market. But it should also be mentioned that it is not possible to tell the future according to the past. Sometimes unpleasant cases happen but it is not fair to judge the company like that. You should always check how long the company is around for. If they have been on the market for a decade and have lots of pleased costumers – you should definitely worry about nothing. History can show you all the advantages and disadvantages giving you the best perspective on what there is to expect.
Information on the insurance companies is not difficult to seek. You can always ask or email if you have any questions. With the help of internet insurance sites it became very easy to get insured. Cheap auto insurance is only a question of time. But we would not recommend you to run after the price. Cheap doesn’t always mean – the best. But if you decided you need cheap auto insurance and nothing else – there is no better place than internet for it. It is there to give you plenty of offers to choose from. Trust our word.
How to Use Life Insurance as an Investment
We all want to make sure our family and loved ones are protected and safe no matter what. This is why there are so many companies out there offering you to insure your life. Life coverage is a good way to protect your spouse, children, family members and loved ones from financial hardships in case of your death or disability. But besides insurance features, there are more and more policies providing with additional benefits that have money distribution and investment features to the underwriter. And the question is whether it’s reasonable to use insurance as a form of investment or there are better options for this.
Insuring your life as a form of investment
At first sight, having your life insured is a very good thing to do as you accumulate a good amount of money for your family that can be used for different purposes in case something happens to you. But there’s more to it than just that. In contrast with term policies that have no investment options, cash value (also known as whole life) policies have additional benefits, which make them a good investment instrument. These benefits allow withdrawing money from your account after a certain period if time has passed. You can obtain these funds in different ways:
- Withdrawing cash from the final coverage amount of the insurance policy. For example you have a $200,000 policy and want to withdraw $10,000. This means that the insurance company will pay out $190,000 in death benefit in case of your death.
- Paying insurance premiums from the accumulated cash value of your policy. This is a good way to have a relatively cheap life insurance in terms of whole life insurance. And there are no penalties for doing so.
- Using the cash value of your policy as a loan. This usually provides you with lower interest rates compared to loan products offered by lending institutions. You can even be free of any payments, however the money will be taken from your final death benefit, including a certain interest.
How much does it cost?
Of course, these possibilities give much food for thought as you may use the money withdrawn for multiple purposes, making your personal and your family’s life better. However, all these options come with a certain price tag, lowering your death benefit, which is obviously the initial purpose of insuring your life in general.
Withdrawing money from your insurance account can be proportional to the amount of money your death benefit will be lowered by, However, in some cases it can cost you much more than that. Sometimes there are additional fees and interests included, making your death benefit even smaller than you would expect. From this perspective there’s not much rationality in getting whole life policies, making them a simple waste of money.
And it’s not only this. Experts state that such policies have lower return on investment if compared to other investment tools, and suggest that it’s cheaper to get term insurance policies and an additional savings account or a loan rather than using costly cash value policies for that purpose.
However, it’s always better to shop around. Use life insurance quotes to find a less pricey whole life insurance policy so that you could use all the benefits for a lower cost.
Post-accident to-do list
The weather conditions should not affect anything. Of course, it is clear to everybody that in winter accidents are more frequent, but you also have to remember that avoiding an accident is much more valuable than knowing how to recover from it. But in case you did end up in an accident please know what to do. Let us try to explain everything you will require to understand while finding yourself a victim on the road. Here are a few very strong advices that will definitely help you to get through a difficult time of your life.
We would want you to read these points carefully and if you have an opportunity to print the information given below please do and make sure you keep it not to far away.
First of all it is important to take a deep breath and not to panic. Analyze the situation and determine the equivalent of losses. The damage can be significant or slightly important. In any case you have to consider that it is easy to make the situation even worse than it is. In any case, what you must know is that sometimes medical assistance is what you need to think of in the first place. Smallest details count.
You have to know to report police about any accidents you find yourself in. It has to be legal so there is a way to deal with the situation. Do not try to escape from the scene or arrange anything without police knowing about it. This will get you into more trouble. Police will make a full report of everything that happen and conclude with the verdict.
Do not let anybody get you blinded. Talk only with policemen about the accident. We know sometimes it is difficult to keep it quiet about what happened but take a look at it from a different point of view. While in panic people let themselves go, not realizing what it can get themselves into. Limit all of the conversations about the accident on the road and do not confess anything. The only two people that should know all honesty are the policeman and insurance company person.
Remember to make notes. People are so shocked and nervous after the accident that they forget the most important part – to write down names, addresses, phone contacts of those who were involved in the car accident with them. But you have to ask your insurance company’s advice while you are waiting for police to arrive. The insurance company guy will definitely tell you to recollect the name of the insurance company the others are dealing with plus their car’s identification number.
You should call your insurance company or your insurance agent as soon as you found yourself in the accident. He must know it before anybody. Please inform him about the smallest details and don’t be afraid to speak the truth even if you were the one responsible for the accident.
You ca also find some car insurance quotes on different websites and read them before you hit the road. We don’t mean you have to do it everyday but it is always good to know how to help ay case when it occurs. You can also get car insurance quotes from the insurance company itself if you have chosen one already. Good luck and be safe!
Do you know what your insurance contains?
When dealing with a health insurance plan, whether a new one or the one you have already purchased, the specific language of its contents can be confusing for most people. All these provisions, coverage options and payments make little sense unless you are an insurance expert. And it’s not that rare that a person asks what does their policy provide even after having it for some time.
Don’t worry, we are here to help you. Below you will find the most commonly used health insurance terms you will find in any policy with brief and comprehensive explanation that will help you understand your insurance policy better.
Deductible
Deductible is the sum of money the policy-holder has to pay out of pocket before the policy benefits will kick in. This amount is typically set on an early basis, meaning that a certain part or the whole deductible in the current year, this amount will be renewed in the next one. Certain services provided by the insurance policies such as physician visits are available free of deductible. If you have your family members included into your policy, there’s usually a separate distinction between individual and group deductible amounts.
Co-insurance (Co-payments)
The sum of money you have to pay on your own before your policy starts covering you in addition to the plan’s deductible. Certain plans will require only co-insurance payments for some types of services without requiring you to pay the deductible.
Out-of-Pocket
It’s a general term denoting all payments that you have to make on your account before the policy coverage kicks in. This usually refers to deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance. When speaking of annual out-of-pocket maximum this term refers to the overall costs of the insurance policy during the year minus the premiums.
Lifetime Maximum
This term refers to the maximum sum of money you can receive with your insurance policy in the course its entire duration period. Most health insurance plans have separate lifetime maximums for individual and group purposes so pay attention when reviewing the policy or getting health insurance quotes.
Exclusions
As you can guess, these are provisions that your health insurance plan won’t cover.
Pre-existing Conditions
This refers to all health conditions that you were diagnosed with before purchasing the policy. Certain insurance companies will not cover such conditions, while other companies will. Learn about this option when you getting health insurance quotes especially if you have certain health problems you want to cover.
Waiting Period
This is the period of time the policy-holder will have to wait before receiving any benefits from the insurance policy.
Coordination of Benefits
In case the policy-holder has source of coverage additional to the present policy the benefits received from all the policies will be coordinated in order to make sure that the person does not receive double coverage.
Grace Period
The period of time starting after the premium payment due date that the person is still able to pay without risking the policy to be void.
Change your life – forget about ED
Also known as “impotence”, ED is a man’s inability to achieve an erection in order to perform sexual intercourse.
The term “erectile dysfunction” refers specifically to the erection whereas “impotence” is also used quite often to refer to other problems associated with sexual intercourse and reproduction such as a lack of sexual desire or problems with ejaculation.
The Penis and Erections
An erection is achieved when muscles, blood vessels, nerves and hormones all work together. When the brain senses sexual stimulation or arousal, it sends nerve signals to the penis. Arousal can be caused in various ways such as through touching, visual or auditory stimulation, or a fantasy or dream. These nerve signals cause muscle relaxation in the penis and as a result, blood is allowed to flow and collect in the spongy tissue. This causes the penis to inflate as it grows larger and firmer. Blood is prevented from flowing out by veins which close themselves off.
Causes of Erectile Dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction has various causes most commonly physical causes in older men such as disease, injury or a side-effect of drugs. Any injury to the nerves or blood flow in the penis could potentially cause ED.
Most men will never experience erectile dysfunction. It is not inevitable as a man grows older. However, 5% of 40 year-old men do suffer with ED, as do between 15% and 25% of 65 year-olds.
Treatment
Nowadays there are many ways to treat erectile dysfunction. More sufferers seek treatment as awareness grows that the condition is treatable at any age. Successful, improved treatment of ED allows many men to return to normal sexual activity.
Examples of how to treat erectile dysfunction include counseling (the cause can be psychological), medications, devices such as a vacuum or implanted device and where the condition is caused by damage to veins or arteries, surgery is another option. Research into treating erectile dysfunction is extensive and ever-increasing. As always, patients should consult their clinician about the latest and most suitable treatments.
Statistics
The term “erectile dysfunction” is used to covers a range of severity from a complete inability to achieve an erection, to an inconsistent ability, or the inability to sustain an erection for a long enough period to perform sexually. Due to this broad range, it is difficult to measure and estimate the level and severity of incidence.
Between 15 and 30 million American men are estimated to suffer from erectile dysfunction. This figure varies according to how the condition is defined. The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) claims that in 1985, for every 1000 men in the US, 7.7 visits to physicians were due to erectile dysfunction. In 1999, this rate had tripled to 22.3 visits.
This increase is more likely due to more men being comfortable discussing their problem. As more treatments have become available, the subject of erectile dysfunction is no longer as taboo as it once was.
The biggest recent advance in treatment for erectile dysfunction was the highly-publicized March 1998 introduction to the market of the oral drug popularly known as Viagra (Sildenafil citrate). NAMCS estimate that Viagra was mentioned in 2.6 million visits to physicians in the United States in 1999, one third of which occurred when conditions other than ED were diagnosed. Nowadays, Sildenafil citrate is readily available. Online Viagra is particularly popular as it can avoid embarrassment purchasing the drug this way. Millions of email inboxes worldwide are filled with advertisements for online Viagra every day.